Penance For Your Sins
by Kravor
Summary: The lights flicker as he watches, rising from his crouch as the shadows shift and twist, coalescing into the twisted Warframe that had hunted his kin across the stars. I am your Reckoning, it hisses, drawing a cruel blade from its shadowed back. I am your Absolution, the Priest replies, drawing his thurible and calling to the Void.


The corrupted Lancer fell to the floor in two pieces, a wave of pure energy washing over the two halves, matter flaking off as the enslaved clone was swiftly disintegrated.

The Warframe rose from his crouch that was the conclusion of his slide, glancing back at the trail of carnage he had carved through the Tower's corrupted minions. Depressing a button on his staff, the weapon quickly cycled in a new magazine with a low whirr, the only sound save for the low, ever-present hum of concealed Orokin machinery. Taking a moment to allow his shields to recharge, his faceless helm was drawn by the flicker of an illumination node high on the ceiling above him.

Unusual.

The Harrow stiffened as another light fixture flickered, then another, one failing for several seconds before mysteriously reactivating.

Such malfunctions do not plague the perfect Towers of the long-gone Orokin, he knew, and signaled the harbinger of something far more sinister than unfortunate souls corrupted by the Tower's Neural Sentry.

He swung his gaze around the expansive chamber, readying himself for the fight to come.

"Show yourself" he growled, unseen eyes scanning the unnatural shadows gathering in the corners of the gilded chamber. One corner darkened considerably, the shadows within shifting and twisting, smoke coalescing into a dark Warframe. The figure stood from its kneeling position, drawing a dual-pronged greatsword with one smoky arm. Its inky, mottled form left little to doubt, its malformed helm seeming to be fixed in a permanent glare.

 ** _I have counted your sins…_** came its shadowy voice, echoing through the gilded architecture, a thousand whispers originating from everywhere at once.

"I am penance" declared the Priest-frame, summoning his thurible in his left hand. Iridescent mist spilled from its glowing core, the energy of the Void safely locked within the golden bauble.

The Harrow slung the instrument over his shoulder, striking his metal back once, twice. His shields flared, died as unnatural energy surged into his Warframe, overcharging synthetic muscles and accelerating inorganic nerves.

"And I will absolve you of your transgressions" he finished, a flick of his thurible sending a wave of ethereal chains toward his assailant.

 ** _I am your reckoning!_** the shadows screamed, the figure suddenly dashing to the side then forward, Sentient sword raised high to slash the priest in two. The Harrow deftly sidestepped the predictable attack, slamming the butt of his staff into his assailant's misshapen helm. The blow staggered the dark frame, allowing the Priest to discharge a bolt of plasma at the assassin at near point-blank range.

Capitalizing on the Shadow's reeling, the Harrow unleased bolt after bolt of bright plasma at the hunter, the plasma stripping away shields and eating away at nanoregenerative armor. Howling in pain, the Stalker dove to the side, out of the current of plasma fire and behind a dormant Sentry. Calling the shadows to him, he pulled the Harrow towards himself, flicking monofilament-edged daggers at his opponent with his other hand. The priest grunted as the blades found their mark, embedding themselves in his chest as he tried to avoid both them and the dark Pull.

He almost lost an arm trying to pull one free, and was forced to dodge and backpedal away from the assassin's enraged swings. One lucky slash clipped his arm, instantly cutting through shields and muscle fiber with ease. The blow off-balanced the void-priest, who was forced to roll aside to avoid a crushing downward slash.

Summoning unnatural power, the Harrow was suddenly bound in his own chains, the void tugging at his very essence. Shattering the chains that bound his wrists, energy collected over his form, deflecting a strike from the Stalker that would have beheaded him. The Shadow's assault continued, each blow being deflected by otherworldly energies hovering just inches above the priest's metal skin.

His onslaught was abruptly halted as the Harrow suddenly caught his sword by the blade and delivered a savage backhand to where his face would have been, using the stun to wrench the blade from the Stalker's grasp. Before the Shadow could react, the Harrow drove the dual-pronged blade through his abdomen, the irony of the move lost on the two combatants.

His power fading, the Stalker fell to his knees as smoke began to escape from the twin holes in his chest. The Harrow stood above him, victorious, his staff in hand once again.

 ** _This… not over_** the Shadow rasped, feeling his form begin to deteriorate as the shadows reached for him, like the claws of the damned reaching for an unfortunate soul.

The Harrow's staff began to glow brighter as he carefully channeled the very essence of the Void into its firing mechanism.

"Send your copies after me" he spat, raising his staff, the glowing spearpoint aimed for the Shadow's head.

"And I will send each of them screaming into the Void".

He brought down his Void-charged weapon, the reality-bending energy stabbing into the bastardized Warframe like a knife through butter. The shadows screamed and writhed, desperately trying to escape the light even as it consumed them. The dark Warframe twitched and spasmed, cracks running over its surface as something howled above the rest, something twisted and broken and inhuman. The Shadow's form began to flake off and disintegrate, energy tearing apart his form atom by atom.

The priest removed his staff when nothing was left but ash, the only evidence remaining of the twisted warrior-assassin.

"I give you absolution" the Harrow solemnly declared to the empty chamber, before turning on his heel and leaving the wretched place.

 _Pray I do not find you, Shadow of the Old War, hunter of my kin._

 _For if I do, you will pay your penance in blood._


End file.
